Structure of knockdown cabinet

ABSTRACT

A structure of knockdown cabinet includes a plurality of connectors and a plurality of partition plates that is coupled to the connectors to form the knockdown cabinet. The connectors each have at least two side faces forming coupling ribs, and coupling ribs are selectively fit into and connectable to coupling slots formed in the partition plates to allows a user to joint the partition plates with the connectors for forming a variable configuration of knockdown cabinet, which allows of reduction and expansion as desired. The partition plates can be of different sizes, so that the partition plates can form storage compartments of different volumes to enhance variability of the cabinet.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a knockdown cabinet, and moreparticularly to a structure of knockdown cabinet that allows ofexpansion and modification as desired by a user and is also easy toassemble.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A cabinet is generally provided for a user to place miscellaneous itemsfor storage and organization. Most of the cabinets are made bymanufactures for sale to the general consumers. However, since a cabinetoccupies quite an amount of space, making it generally difficult to passthrough a house door, the manufacture of cabinet often needs to take thesize of a doorway into consideration. To handle such a problem,diversified designs of cabinet are now available in the market and somecabinets are now made and sold in a knockdown fashion to allow thegeneral consumers to assemble the cabinet by themselves. The knownknockdown cabinet is assembled by securing components thereof togetherthrough screwing. This makes the assembling operation very tedious andtime inefficient. In addition, the general consumers are not allowed tomodify the configuration of a specific knockdown cabinet they purchase.For example, a knockdown cabinet that are originally formed of threelayers of shelf or storage cells cannot be changed into a two-layershelving configuration or a configuration having a shelving structure ofmore than three layers. Apparently, the knockdown cabinets need furtherimprovement and the present invention aims to overcome such a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the problems discussed above, the present invention aims toprovide novel structure of knockdown cabinet that allows of expansionand modification as desired by a user and is also easy to assemble.

An objective of the present invention is thus to provide a knockdowncabinet showing variable configuration through selective combinations ofa plurality of connectors and a plurality of partition plates to allow auser to reduce or expand the cabinet as desired. Further, with thepartition plate being selectively made of different sizes, a knockdowncabinet having different storage compartments can be formed.

To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides astructure of knockdown cabinet, which comprises a plurality ofconnectors, each of which has at least two side faces each forming acoupling rib. The coupling ribs are selectively fit into and connectablewith coupling slots defined in partition plates, whereby with thecoupling ribs serving as interfacing means for connecting multiplepartition plates, expansion of the cabinet through mutual connection canbe done to provide a knockdown cabinet that can be made larger and morehumanistic. With the above arrangement, the drawbacks that theconventional knockdown cabinets can only be assembled by being securedthrough screwing that makes the assembling operation complicated andlabor inefficient and that does not allow a user to change theconfiguration of the knockdown cabinet so assembled can be overcome torealize practical improvement.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introductionto the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a knockdown cabinet according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the knockdown cabinet according to thepreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a partition plate according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view showing a connector according to thepreferred embodiment of the present invention jointing two partitionplates.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a connector forming three couplingribs according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a connector forming four couplingribs according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating an application of the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7A is a schematic view illustrating an application of the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, which show respectively a perspective view and afront view of a knockdown cabinet according to a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, a perspective view of a partition plate, and anenlarged view of a connector connecting two partition plates accordingto the present invention, the drawings clearly show that the presentinvention provides a knockdown cabinet 1, which comprises generally aplurality of connectors 2 and a plurality of partition plates 3. Each ofthe connectors 2 has at least two side faces each forming a coupling rib21, 22, and the coupling ribs 21 are respectively arranged alongdirections that are normal to each other at an angle of 90 degrees (asshown in FIG. 4). The partition plates 3 each have opposite side facesrespectively forming coupling slots 31, 32, whereby the coupling slot 31is fit into and connectable to the coupling rib 21 to have the partitionplate 3 connected to the connector 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, which show respectively a perspectiveview and a front view of a knockdown cabinet according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention and a schematic view of a connectorhaving three coupling ribs, the drawings clearly show that the connector2 has three side faces each forming a coupling rib 21, 22, 23 forconnecting the partition plates 3 in an assembling operation, wherebythe connector 2 provides a support to sideway expansion of the knockdowncabinet 1 to form a greater number of storage compartments 4.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 6, which show respectively a perspectiveview and a front view of a knockdown cabinet according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention and a schematic view of a connectorhaving four coupling ribs, the drawings clearly show that the connector2 forms a coupling rib 21, 22, 23, 24 on each side face thereof so thateach side of the connector 2 is connectable to a partition plate 3 toallow of expansion in multiple directions. This connector 2 is usefulfor connection at an intermediate location of the knockdown cabinet 1 toform greater height and size of the knockdown cabinet 1.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 7A, which illustrate an application of thepreferred embodiment according to the present invention, these drawingsclearly show that the knockdown cabinet 1 a according to the presentinvention generally comprises a plurality of connectors 2 a connecting aplurality of partition plates 3 a, whereby the selective combination ofthe connectors that have coupling ribs 21 a, 22 a, 23 a, 24 a formed ontwo or threes sides or each side of the connector with the couplingslots 31 a, 32 a of the partition plates 3 a provides a desiredconfiguration of the knockdown cabinet la, in which the partition plates3 a can be of different sizes so that when a user wishes to have aknockdown cabinet la that is composed of storage compartments 4 a ofdifferent sizes, the partition plates 3 a of different sizes can bejointed in a selected manner to form the storage compartments 4 a ofdifferent sizes and also form storage compartments 4 a of inconsistentvolume for providing an advantage of diversification and expandability

Preferred embodiments have been described for explanation of the presentinvention, yet it is understood that such embodiments and detailsthereof are not intended to constrain the scope of the presentinvention, which is interpreted solely on the basis of the appendedclaims and including all modification and equivalents of what describedabove that are considered within the scope of the present invention.

The present invention, when put into practice, provides the followingadvantages over the known devices:

Through selective combinations of a plurality of connectors 2 and aplurality of partition plates 3, various and diversified configurationsof knockdown cabinet 1 can be formed, allowing a user to reduce orexpand the cabinet by himself or herself. Further, through use ofpartition plates 3 of different sizes, a knockdown cabinet 1 havingstorage compartments 4 of different sizes can be formed.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

I claim:
 1. A knockdown cabinet, comprising: a plurality of connectors,each of which has at least two side faces each forming a coupling rib;and a plurality of partition plates each of which has opposite sidefaces respectively forming coupling slots for selectively receiving andcoupling with the coupling ribs.
 2. The knockdown cabinet according toclaim 1, wherein the connector has at least three side facesrespectively forming coupling ribs.
 3. The knockdown cabinet accordingto claim 1, wherein the connector forms a coupling rib on each of sidefaces thereof
 4. The knockdown cabinet according to claim 1, wherein thepartition plates are of different sizes.
 5. The knockdown cabinetaccording to claim 1, wherein the coupling ribs are arranged alongdirections that are normal to each other at an angle of 90 degrees.